The 2 year report

Wow.. I really cannot believe that the time has come... Its my last Pday here in the field and there is just so much that I want to say, But as you may know.. I am a man of very few words.. but I will do my best to communicate everything that I want to say.

Ive been doing a lot of self evaluation recently and its been incredible to see how my mission really has effected my life. I remember my very first days here in Paraguay. I didnt understand the language at all, and honestly was very lost. I didnt really know what I was doing, all I knew is that I was trying to serve the Lord. But now. everything has changed. I really have grown in so many ways its been incredible. I never thought that the Lord could make me change in so many unexpected ways.

I guess one of the biggest ways that I have changed is in my testimony. My testimony has grown so much while I have been here in the mission. I really have felt huge growth and Love twords our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Mom and Dad, You did and Incredible job of helping me learn and grow in the teachings of the Gospel. I knew that It was all true before I came here, But I guess the seperation really made me grow and seeing the affects of the Atonement in my life and in the life of others. Before the mission, I knew that Christ was our Savior and I knew that his Atonement was perfect. But now I am begining to understand the Atonemnet. Im starting to understand the magnitude of Love and Patience that he showed us in the act that really changed the world. Im begining to understand that If the Atonement wasnt perfect, The whole plan of God would have fallen and we would be Lost. I can honestly say that The Atonement is my compass and has really become my guide in life. I owe everything that I have to My Savior. Everyhting that I have.

I also have had a huge increase in my testimony of the Book of Mormon. Being here in South America with Descendents of the Book of Mormon has been incredible. I have seen many miracles from reading the Book of Mormon and Applying what I have learned. I do not now any other Book or Talk that can Explain the importance of the Atonement. The Book of Mormon really is a huge blessing that we have. I know that the Book is true and that our savior loves us. 

I know that the mission is hard. It has been the Hardest 2 years of my life. But I would never trade this expirence for a million Dollars. I love my savior. He is my Friend and my Brother and I am forever in his Debt. I know that the Church Of Jesus Christ is true. I know it and I love it

Ill see you all in a few days.. Love you to Paraguay and Back

Elder Jared

Week 5 Review

II can hardly believe that week 5 has come and gone... it still amazing to me how fast time flies, I thought Id be used to it by now but I guess not... Thats how crzy fast time is going ... Man Its been a good week. I had a lot of fun this week. Things are starting to change here in the mission. The first thing that happened was that we met our new Mission President. His name is President Evans and He is from Illinios. He seems like such a great guy and you could feel that he and his wife had so much love for us. Thats one of the things that many people felt from President Mcmullin and his wife.  And that was oneof the first impressins that I had from President Evans and his wife. So Im sure that the mission will be in good hands. Its really a shame that I wont get to Know President Evans super great, but from what I have seen He will be a fantastic president.

This week we had a good week. We actually have found somemore people the teach. Theres one that we found named Raquel. She Is a very intertesting girl. She seems really interested I dont know if she will start progressing but it seems like she might start progressing. so I guess the other elders will see if she progresses

Its really wierd for me right now knowing that I wont be seeing the fruits of my work now. But I know that I need to leave the field ripe and ready to harvest so that the work  can continure. Thats the way things work and I love Huguito so I want to leave it with many fruits. love you all
Elder Jared

Week 3 with a Week 2 report!

Hola!!

How are you all doing?? Ive  had a great week here in Paraguay. Its been a fun week this week. There isnt a ton to update on. Its just been another week here in the mission. And Ive enjoyed every minute of it.Ill just give a quick update this week

WE were able to put a date with Angie for the 25th of June. She is super excited. She immediatly accepted the date and she told us that she is super excited. Its really been a big miracle with her. A member reference, She got permission from her Dad (HUGE blessing) and she is doing very, very well. She is reading the Book of Mormon and Praying. She knows its true. Shes told us many times. She is doing very well.

Victor isn really progressing anymore. Its very hard to find him at home and its just been a little bit rough to find him. But we will be focusing on him this week and hopefullyhe will progress.

Kinda had a funny expirence yesterday. We were just walking back home last night and on the way home we passed by a drunk guy. Hes one of those neighborhood drunks that you always just know hes not in his own mind. But last night, as I passed by he started talking about how USA eliminated Paraguay, He wasnt really happy about that and he said that he would never talk to an american again. Its kinda sad, but I think of it more as being funny. Honestly Drunk people are some of the funniest people to talk to, but its not always a good thing.

Thats all for this week!! Love you all

Elder Jared

Week 2 with a Week 1 Review

My oh my what a week it has been... Long would be a good way to say it. Its always long when there are changes. Luckilly, I will be staying here in Huguito for my last Transfer. Unluckily Che Ra`y (thats Gauranì for my son) Left me.. Its always hard leaving a son😢 but hey, That's the mission for ya.

So my new Companion is Elder Cerron. He is from Lima Peru. He's been here about a year. We get a long just fine. Still getting to know each other but its pretty fun being with him. Cool act for ya, Elder Cerron's younger brother is a professional soccer player and right now is in The states for the Copa America representing Peru! Do you even know what the Copa America is? Its a huge deal here. Its like a mini world cup but all the teams are here in the Americas. It's going to be fun because Saturday USA plays Paraguay! Haha try to watch it!!

So big great fantastic news from this week!! You ready for this!! So Angie finally got permission to be baptized from her dad!! She was so excited when she told us! It was so cool to see her that excited. She was super excited. haha. Sadly though, We weren't able to teach her. Supposedly she had some test that she really wanted to study for. But for sure this week we will talk with her.

Other than that, there isn't much going on. We haven't found Victor which is sad, but we keep trying. We keep praying and fasting for him.

I can't think of any funny stories right know. I know there is something, but I just cant remember it. Hmm maybe next week!!

Let me know of any questions you have!! Love you all

Elder Jared

Week 1

Well this is it!! Im offically starting Week one of my last six weeks here. Its been a crazy awesome super stressful best (almost) 2 years ever!! I seriously have loved every moment out here. I 'remember much of the hard stuff. I recognize that hard things have happened but I hardly remember those. All of my memories are full of joy and happiness and I am so glad that I have had this time to serve. But now it's time for this weeks update!

We had good week this week. It was quite rainy which made it hard to find new people. So that was kinda rough. But anyway, we had some great lessons with Angie and Victor. Angie seems so set. She just a little bit scared to talk with her Dad. Her Dad is supposedly very catholic and doesnt really enjoy the fact that we are teaching her. We try talking with him, but every time we see him, he runs away from us. Her mom doesn't mind that we teach her. She will even listen to us, but you can tell that she just isn't very interested. Angie is very worried about asking her dad. She has her sister (who is a member) and her sister's husband to support her. So this week we just were talking with her and we just started talking about Fast and Prayer. It was incredible how fast and perfectly things just happened. It was so weird. It seemed to just fall right into place. It really was awesome and Angie seemed so ready to fast and pray for the strength to talk to her dad. We will see tonight if she was able to do it.

We also had a good lesson with Victor this week. We found out that he has been struggling with the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. Its been dragging him down. But he seemed to have greater desire to move on and obey the commandments. But we will also see this week how he is doing.

We had this crazy awesome experience this week. We were walking to an appointment when Elder Proffit and I both felt that we needed to visit a members house. So we decide to visit them. It turns out that a 15 year old member had just been robbed. She was not having a good time either. She didn't want to look at us and just was having a rough time. She asked for a blessing. Her mom asked Elder Proffit to give the blessing. He still struggles a lot with Spanish, but while he gave this blessing, It seemed that there was no problem with his Spanish. It was really the most perfect Spanish I have ever heard him say. It was truly amazing. The Spirit was so strong. And as for the member, we ended up finishing our visit laughing. It was amazing how the spirit was able to help her. It was one of the most powerful experiences that I have had yet on the mission. Well time is short and I gave to go. I love you all!!

Elder Jared

Quick Update

Hello!! I hope you all are having a fantastic week!! WE have had a decent week here, I just want to give a nice quick update. I just want to tell you guys that Angie is progressing very well right now. she went to church and she really wants to be baptized. Its so exciting know that she has the desires to repent and be baptized by his authority. We are a little bit worried about permission from her father, but her Mom has given us the OK to move ahead, but we will be having a Family Home evening with her family tonight. Her older sister is a member and is sealed, so I believe that she will help us a lot. Angie Really is great and we had a fantastic lesson on the Plan of salvation. Her mom was there, but she isnt really interested. One by one I guess we will have to get this family. I am super excited for them.

I really dont know what else to say, other than that there isnt much to say, just another week in the work of the Lord!

Love you all

Elder Jared

And the cold comes rolling in!

This week was a pretty good week. There most definatly were ups and downs to the week. One Good thing that happened this week is that we had a cold front move in this week!! Which was quite a relief knowing that I had beat the Paraguayan heat! its a relief to not be sweating all day walking in the blistering sun!

We had been working with an investigator named Eduardo Ozuna for a long time now. His family is active (except for his Dad) and he was baptized when he was 8 but what happened was that he never went fully under, so after 4 attempts at being baptized, he got scared and just left the font. So for 2 years, missionaries have been passing by their house trying to help him. And for the first time in these 2 years, he had accepted a baptismal date. We have been working with him about his fear of water and he was starting to be more confident in being baptized. So we were super excited for him to be baptized this weekend. But Saturday we were talking with his Dad about it and his Dad basically just said "we are going to do it another date. End of Story." We tried asking him why and he said he didnt know about the date. Which is a complete lie because we had talked about it with him many times. and his wife and Eduardo had talked about it. So it was just really frustrating for me. So Theres the Struggle between helping the Father (The ward and we have been working real hard with putting goals with him to be worthy to baptize but he just wasnt meeting the goals) and helping his son recieve the remision of his sins through repentance and baptism. Its quite a dificult balance to find! But we are praying very hard for them so that Eduardo can be baptized.

So That happened like saturday. and that really put a huge bummer on our day. We were really just kind of disanimated at that point. So we just decided to continue with our plans. We had recieved a refrence from a member that we decided to check out. And It was a great lesson that we had. her name is Maria De los Angeles, but everyone calls her Angie for short. She is 12 years old and is the sister of the member. So we just decided to stop by and see her and she lets us in really quick. She immediatly pulls out all of the pamphelts with the missionary lessons and the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principle book. She had been studying a little bit! She had been to church so we started talking about her expirence in the Church and she told us that she loved it. She said that going just wanted her to change and to be better! I think that pretty rare for a 12 year old girl. so yeah. Super awesome. so then we teach the restoration to her and she honestly loved it! She said that she wanted to know what the true church is and she feels like it was an answer for her! But she really wanted to recieve a firm firm confirmation so she said she will pray about it! It was so great seeing something so awesome right after sucha dower of a lesson with Eduardos Dad. The Lord always seems to lift me up after something like that happenes!! I love him!!

Victor was called into work this Sunday, So once again, we have to wait for another week. But he says that he feels ready., It was cool because in the past lessons, hes been telling us that he had to work through some things, but this week he told us that he felt he was ready. He truly is repenting and the change in him has been incredible. I really hope he can go to church next week. I love you all!!!

Elder Jared